


Up till five (again)

by kojafras



Series: #messdrabbles [9]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Ghost Hunters, M/M, Multi, ghost au, love is the real treasure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 03:13:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7249759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kojafras/pseuds/kojafras
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chanyeol goes ghost hunting, drags along his boyfriend Tao, and they meet a gay ghost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Up till five (again)

**Author's Note:**

> day 5 of #messdrabbles
> 
> ghost au + college au w/ Chanyeol, Tao, Minseok
> 
> (I went ghost hunting last weekend can you tell)

“Chanyeol, I’ve got a paper due on Monday so–”

“I remember, you told me,” Chanyeol interrupted, voice muffled by the wires held in his mouth, his hands already occupied with setting up the tripod for the camera. He heard Tao sigh behind him and gently take the three lengths away. Chanyeol chirped his gratitude, and Tao waited until he’d finished before continuing.

“I started it while you were setting up, I was wondering if you could look at it for me?” He offered his laptop with outstretched hands, expression hopeful. “It’s for that one professor who takes off points for misspellings. I’m going to get a zero if you don’t help me.”

“You’re not that bad!” Chanyeol insisted, frowning sympathetically. He chanced a look outside the window and saw the sun resting on the horizon, sky already growing dark. “And of course I’ll look at it. Let me finish these last three rooms and then we can sit down and take a look at it.”

Tao nodded, satisfied. “I’ll go wait in the living room. It’s less creepy.” And then he practically ran out of the room.

Chanyeol’s parents got him into it, the ghost hunting. It was a hobby of theirs, and every couple months out of the year they’d join a larger group and investigate a house and they’d bring Chanyeol and his sister. Yura had hated it, had made sure she was busy for those dates as she grew older, but Chanyeol loved it. In fact, when he’d turned sixteen, he’d asked for a private ghost hunt with some friends. It had scared the pants off of them, but he’d loved it.

When he’d left for college, he’d gone to an area famous for its proximity to haunted places–to his parents’ chagrin–and started going hunting on his own. It was a little difficult, without the high-tech equipment, but he made do with what he could buy using his meagre pay from waiting tables at the small restaurant by campus. And then he’d started dragging Tao along, a friend he’d made freshman year due to the fact that they’d both been clueless–Chanyeol because he was a city kid, and Tao because he was fresh from China and knew very little Korean. They’d started dating sophomore year, and a year later, Tao still followed him around. He’d even bought Chanyeol a bunch of fancy cameras for his birthday (Chanyeol had bought him a stuffed toy dog, but Tao kept it on his bed so Chanyeol counted it as a win-win).

The sun had completely set by the time Chanyeol declared the essay error-free, and the house was bathed in darkness. It was untouched since it had been closed down fifty years ago, so the paint peeling from the walls looked almost menacing in the dim light.

“Okay, let’s go!” Chanyeol cheered after checking the time (a little after 10), and grabbed a flashlight and a handful of other devices off the table in front of him. Tao nodded, looking incredibly resigned, and grabbed a flashlight before standing and following Chanyeol down the hall to the winding staircase.

He was excited for this house, because there had been a couple famous groups that had come and reported sightings of an actual spectre and audio files were all over the internet of a disembodied voice begging visitors to leave before the fire got them. The building had served as an orphanage up until a large fire had killed most of the inhabitants. A couple years later, it was rebuilt and used as the headquarters for a printing press for only five years before they left and closed down the building, reporting multiple events in which machines had been sabotaged or tampered with, and workers had felt a searing pain on their skin, not unlike fire licking at their skin. Various ghost hunter groups that had come through reported the same.

Chanyeol was hoping he’d see his first ghost. Tao had expressed, multiple times, that he would jump in the car and drive all the way back to campus if anything like that happened.

They started in the basement, where the fire had reportedly started, and Chanyeol set everything up. They spent several hours with Chanyeol trying this and that, even asking Tao to try speaking in Chinese–several children that had lived here were sons and daughters of immigrants–which was one of the few things the man actually enjoyed on these trips. After nothing, they moved up to the main floor, spending several minutes in each room doing the same thing. A couple hours later, they dragged themselves up to the third floor.

They entered one of the bedrooms and Tao actually plopped himself down onto one of the dusty, rickety tables, a testament to how tired he was. Chanyeol began setting up once more and shivered. He turned to Tao. 

“Did you feel that?

“What? Do I feel tired? Yes.” He flailed his arms around. “ _Really_ tired.”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and continued, the hairs on the back of his neck standing. He turned on the white noise machine and microphone with a flourish and stepped back. He started with the usual questions, then launched into the more elaborate ones.

“Do you remember why you were here? Anything about the building?” No response, except for the soft sound of Tao tapping his foot on the floor. “Were you in here when the building caught fire?”

“........yes….”

Chanyeol jumped, wondering if he had misheard that. The sound had already returned to white noise and it was close to three in the morning, sometimes his mind started playing tricks on him. But when he turned to look at Tao the man’s eyes were wide. Chanyeol wracked his brain for a follow-up question. 

“Was this your room?”

“.......no…..”

The chills had spread down his arms. “Did you die in this room?”

“......yes…..”

Tao was sitting up now, flashlight moving around the room and body poised to bolt. Chanyeol held his own in a painfully tight grip. “Were you a child here?” He paused. “Or one of the adults?”

“Both, actually.”

If asked, Chanyeol would deny that he had screamed. On tape, it would sound like high frequency, and that is what he would claim. But he couldn’t say he wasn’t shocked when he turned and saw the man standing in the doorway. It was only Tao’s fingernails, biting into his sides, that kept him from bolting. He cleared his throat, speaking to the newcomer directly, trying to seem calm, “What do you mean?” His voice still came out strangled.

“My parents died when I was young,” the man began, stepping soundlessly forward and speaking with a slight accent, “so I was raised here, and I stayed to teach the children when I grew up.” He looked around. “I suppose you can’t tell there was a fire here, but it started in the basement, in the kitchens, and swallowed the first floor before I could do anything about it.” He came closer. “I heard you talking throughout the building. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?” 

“Oh,” Chanyeol said. He could feel Tao trembling, and placed a hand on his arm in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture, but he could tell he was shaking as well. “No, go ahead.”

“Thank you,” the man took a seat on the lone chair in the corner, and Chanyeol could see him a bit clearer. His skin was fair, face small but features handsome, and although his skin appeared to have no blemishes, his clothing was burned beyond repair and hung in tatters. “I saw you walking around and you two seem very close, also that it appears to only be the two of you. Are you missing other members of your group? And, did I hear one of you speak Mandarin?”

Chanyeol straightened. “Yeah, Tao is Chinese and we heard some of the kids here were also. We thought it might draw them out.”

“There are no others here,” the ghost said in a grave voice. “But you are correct. I learned some Mandarin myself to talk with them, but it is very bad. And then, your group?”

The spirit had a surprisingly soft voice, and Chanyeol felt himself relax minutely, and when he glanced at Tao he could see that the man looked slightly interested. “It’s just the two of us,” he answered, “I like to do this, and Tao follows because… I don’t know. Because he loves me, I guess.”

The man’s eyebrows drew close together in thought, but something flashed across his face and his features immediately returned to mere interest. “You’ve done this before? Then you’ve seen others like myself?”

Chanyeol laughed hollowly. “Actually you’re the first.”

They spoke more, and the ghost introduced himself as Kim Minseok. They spoke more about the tragedy, and Minseok was very open with his answers, but he seemed more interested in Chanyeol and Tao. As sunlight began filtering into the room, the beams passed through the man but didn’t cause him to appear any less solid. 

“You’ve been here this whole time? Do you think you have any unfinished business or something like that?” Chanyeol felt dumb for asking, but Tao patted his hand lazily, dozing off on his shoulder.

“Actually, you and your friend seem to have brought some part of me forward. Usually, when people come here I believe that the fire is still happening, and I spend my energy trying to make them leave.” He had already explained that his last moments were spent directing children outside and lifting the smaller ones up to the windows so that they could get to the others already outside until he couldn’t anymore. He had missed a whole room of children, and they hadn’t been there when he’d reawakened as a spirit. He’d never forgiven himself. Tao had hidden his face in Chanyeol’s back for that admission, and he had felt a faint wetness of tears, but hadn’t said anything. “But the closeness between you two was startling. I hadn’t thought that two friends could be so close.”

Tao laughed softly and Chanyeol quirked a smile. Minseok had been calling them friends for a while, and they hadn’t corrected him, but now Chanyeol felt he had to. “Yeah, no, you’re right. Usually two friends aren’t this close, but it helps that we’re dating.”

Minseok’s eyes grew wide, and suddenly he was standing. “That is allowed now?”

“More or less,” Tao answered, accent thick from lack of sleep. “Our friends support it, and so do my parents. Chanyeol’s are still coming to terms with it, but his sister is already planning our wedding.” He grinned, and Chanyeol smiled back. “Why do you ask?”

“You asked me if I had unfinished business,” Minseok started, “well, I have nothing of the sort, but I had dreams. I was something of a romantic, and I planned on leaving here at some point and marrying.” He paused, staring at the ground. It was silent for a while. It seemed like even the building stilled. “But I was attracted to men, and that wasn’t an option.”

“Things have changed,” Chanyeol found himself saying, “not a lot, but enough.” He stood, pulling Tao with him. “Come with us! We’ll help you find someone so that you can move on!” Tao was staring at him, as if he was crazy, but Minseok was staring at him as well, and the reluctantly hopeful expression nearly tore Chanyeol’s heart in half.

“Do you really think that I could find someone?”

“Yes. There’s someone for everyone,” Chanyeol replied, tone decisive. 

Tao sighed. “Well, if you’re coming with us, we should start packing up. We need to head back soon.” He turned to the window, where the sun was just peeking over the horizon.

Minseok gave each of them a lingering glance, and then smiled. “Alright.”

–

“I’ve got news!” Chanyeol yelled, closing the front door behind him. 

“Hang on, Minseok’s looking over my dissertation,” Tao’s answering shout came from the direction of the dining room, and Chanyeol peeled off his jacket and hung it up before making his way over there. 

He found Minseok staring closely at Tao’s laptop with said man leaning over him, piles of paper and folders covering every inch of the table surface. He took a seat across from them and waited impatiently for Minseok to finish, tapping his finger on the table.

“Okay, done,” the man announced, leaning back. Before Tao could look, Chanyeol spun the monitor to face him and frowned.

“You did it again,” he grumbled. “You changed it all to old-fashioned words. This reads like my old history textbook.”

“These words are much better!” Minseok argued, arms raised. “I have no idea why you did away with them, they’re much more expressive and he’ll be praised for using them!” But Tao had already turned the computer back to him, swearing under his breath as he painstaking replaced each word, and would no doubt be sneaking the dissertation to Chanyeol while Minseok wasn’t looking–the man could control the keyboard from anywhere in the house and wouldn’t hesitate to do so. Tao had been forced to write his last essay on a library computer.

“Anyway, I booked another house! We’re there on Thursday night, and it’s only a three hour drive!” Chanyeol announced with glee.

“No,” Tao said, not even looking up, “I know you’ve got that big presentation on Friday. You’ll fall asleep during it.”

Chanyeol frowned. “We can just have Minseok drive back.”

Tao peeked over the top of his computer. “Do you remember the last time we tried that?” Chanyeol was silent, and Minseok looked away. “I thought so. You’re not going.”

“But,” Chanyeol began, putting on his best begging face, “this one has sightings from _reputable_ sources. And it used to be a hospital!”

Minseok cocks an eyebrow and Tao sighs, rubbing his eyes. “There’s just no use telling you no, is there?” He rolls his eyes when Chanyeol cheers. “Why do we let you do this to yourself?” He frowns. “Why do we come along?”

“Maybe,” Minseok begins, voice light and smile pulling at his mouth as he drapes himself over Tao’s shoulders, “It’s because we love him.”

Chanyeol grins.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think ghost hunting is even a thing in Korea


End file.
